War(An iron fey fan fiction) book 2

chapter 4

As Ethan had suggested, the old base was completely deserted.  Nothing remained of the forgotten. Or so it seemed.

***

We searched even so, still pretending to be hopeful that there could be something there.. my disappointment must have shown on my face, as both boys reassured me every few minutes that the place was huge, and there was still hope. Their smiles didn’t quite reach their eyes though confirming what I already knew.

“What was that?” Ethan’s voice broke the silence.

“What?”

“I don’t hear anything mate.”

“Not hear, see. There was a light on down there.” We quickened our pace, though not daring to run for fear of being heard.  “There!” Ethan whispered. I nodded, having seen the pale glow disappearing around the corner. Keirran drew his sword sending chills down my spine. I had only seen him in training before not serious combat. Ethan nodded and drew both of his blades and followed Keirran through the passage. I drew my own sword, hands trembling and scurried after them. We ran stealthily towards the light, Keirran in the lead and me bringing up the rear. Keirran turned the corner and stopped dead, gripping his sword so tightly his knuckles were turning white.  In front of me, Ethan had taken up a fighting stance, one sword pointing towards Keirran, the other at the faery standing in the centre of the room. She was beautiful. Tall and strong, with long red hair floating behind her as if it was weightless. She was very pale unnaturally so, almost black and white apart from her hair which looked out of place against her pale skin. Her eyes were fixed on Keirran, she didn’t even acknowledge that Ethan or I were there.

“Keirran.” Ethan whispered. He came back to his senses with a jerk, his sword now pointing at the faeries chest. She tutted disapprovingly.

“That’s not very nice now, is it, Keirran?” her gaze flickered to Ethan, it was as if I wasn’t even there. “Ethan.” She cooed. “What a lovely surprise. You barely escaped last time, I would have thought that the Iron Queen would have taken better care. Shame. Really I should try and kill you now, get this over with. It would be easier certainly. But I dislike killing…… blood never washes out of white clothes does it? And anyway I have bigger and better things planned. See you around…………. Or not.” The room filled with a blinding white light leaving us staggering. When it had cleared she was gone, a small piece of paper where she had stood. Ethan rushed to pick it up. He scanned it quickly before handing it to me.

Rebecca,

I am willing to offer a trade for your mother. Bring me Ethan Chase and I will let her go, unharmed. We are located underneath the houses of parliament. You have three days before war is declared. Better hurry up - times running out.

My knees gave way. I kneeled on the floor fighting back tears as disappointment settled, weighing me down like a ton of bricks. Behind me there was a loud crash. I turned to find Keirran beating up a wall. I knew I should stop him but I found myself unable to stand. Ethan grabbed his wrists, as blood dribbled down his knuckles.

“Dude, calm down.” Ethan said, surprisingly calm for someone who had just read a note asking his nephew, who had previously tried to kill him, to trade him or there would be a war.

“Its okay.” The both turned to look at me in surprise. “I understand.” I felt like screaming. The world is so god damn unfair. In my mind I was already forming a new plan. I would offer to take first watch on the way back. When they were asleep I would leave and head for parliament alone. How I would get there and what would happen when I got there………… well I would figure that out as I went along. As I came back to earth, satisfied with my plan, I became aware of the boys talking in low voices, debating our next move. To my surprise they both seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me (Apart from sneaking off in the night of course.) Keirran wanted to warn the Iron realm of the possible upcoming attack before setting off to find my mother and the forgotten. This sounded like a good plan, better than mine at least, before Ethan pointed out that A) that may take longer than three days B) they might kill her when three days are up. This gave us all kinds problems as we knew there was a better chance of Iron winning if they were prepared but on the other hand, the forgotten were ruthless and would no doubt kill her if they thought we weren’t coming. What was more important? A single human, or all of faery?